| |
| |
|
|
R E S O L U T I O N
|
|
|
WHEREAS, For more than 150 years, state insurance regulators |
|
|
have provided effective consumer protection and industry |
|
|
oversight; some members of the United States Congress, however, |
|
|
have proposed to undermine this time-tested regulatory system by |
|
|
allowing insurance companies to opt out of state oversight and into |
|
|
a new federal system of chartering, licensing, regulation, and |
|
|
supervision; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, State lawmakers have a unique understanding of the |
|
|
needs of their constituents and of the specific conditions and |
|
|
characteristics that apply in their insurance marketplace; they are |
|
|
able to assess and respond to changing circumstances specific to |
|
|
their states with appropriate modifications to regulations; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, A federal charter system would permit companies to |
|
|
circumvent carefully crafted consumer protection laws and strong |
|
|
solvency requirements that have been put in place by individual |
|
|
states; proponents of such a federal system have cited the recent |
|
|
collapse of the American International Group as justification for a |
|
|
federal charter, but in fact, the insurance subsidiaries of AIG |
|
|
that are regulated at the state level have generally retained their |
|
|
value while federal oversight failed to prevent the meltdown of the |
|
|
parent company; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Given the faltering economy, it is more important |
|
|
than ever for state officials to exercise strong oversight of the |
|
|
insurance industry for the benefit of consumers and to maintain the |
|
|
stability of insurance companies; moreover, premium taxes on |
|
|
insurance are a significant source of revenue for the general funds |
|
|
of all states, providing more than two percent of state tax revenues |
|
|
according to the United States Census; experts estimate that an |
|
|
optional federal charter could eventually draw away from the states |
|
|
more than $14 billion in premium taxes and fees; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, The bifurcation of the insurance regulation system |
|
|
is unnecessary and likely to promote confusion, ambiguity, and |
|
|
fragmentation; it would create an expensive new federal bureaucracy |
|
|
that would inevitably be less nimble and responsive than state |
|
|
regulatory systems, while weakening the ability of the states to |
|
|
protect the interests of their residents; the McCarran-Ferguson Act |
|
|
of 1945 affirmed the role of states as principal regulators of |
|
|
insurance, and there is no compelling reason to make a change in the |
|
|
regulatory rights and responsibilities of the states; now, |
|
|
therefore, be it |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 81st Texas |
|
|
Legislature hereby express its opposition to any federal |
|
|
legislation that would create an optional federal charter for |
|
|
insurers; and, be it further |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the chief clerk of the Texas House of |
|
|
Representatives forward official copies of this resolution to the |
|
|
president of the United States, to the speaker of the house of |
|
|
representatives and the president of the senate of the United |
|
|
States Congress, to the members of the U.S. House Financial |
|
|
Services Committee, to the members of the U.S. House Banking |
|
|
Committee, to the U.S. secretary of the treasury, and to all members |
|
|
of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this |
|
|
resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a |
|
|
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |
| |
|
|
Taylor |
|
|
Eiland |
|
|
|
|
|
______________________________ |
|
|
Speaker of the House |
| |
|
|
I certify that H.R. No. 798 was adopted by the House on May |
|
|
19, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 141, Nays 1, 2 present, not |
|
|
voting. |
|
|
|
|
|
______________________________ |
|
|
Chief Clerk of the House |
| |